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Ethics violation alleged over DOT email on gas-tax law

Sentinel & Enterprise

Updated:
05/01/2014 06:32:19 AM EDT

By Matt Murphy

State House News Service

BOSTON -- Proponents of repealing the gas-tax inflation-indexing law are calling for an ethics investigation into the Massachusetts Department of Transportation after they obtained an email allegedly written by an assistant secretary distributing talking points to senior state officials as part of a "push to defeat the gas-tax ballot question" on track to appear before voters in November.

The email, dated March 26, was allegedly sent from the state email account of Assistant Secretary of Communications Cyndi Roy Gonzalez to senior MassDOT officials, including Secretary Richard Davey, MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott and Registrar of Motor Vehicles Celia Blue.

A spokeswoman from the Stop Automatic Tax Hikes ballot campaign said the email had been provided to the group by one of the 19 recipients of Gonzalez's email, but she declined to specifically identify the source.

"Someone who doesn't want to go to jail," said spokesman Holly Robichaud.

Attorney Marty Lamb and state Rep. Geoff Diehl, both organizers behind the ballot question, asserted the email represents a violation of state law prohibiting the use of public resources for campaign purposes. The group has filed a public-records request seeking all emails sent or received by Davey and Gonzalez between Oct. 1 and Tuesday.

"Clearly, if the government has time to campaign on public time with taxpayer dollars, they don't need a tax increase," Lamb said Wednesday during a press conference outside the Statehouse.

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Diehl is scheduled to debate the gas-tax-indexing law with Davey on WATD radio on Thursday evening.

Davey told the News Service there was nothing improper about the email, which was sent internally to staff and not the general public to provide information and analysis of the ballot question so that officials would be prepared to answer questions from the public.

"Of course not, that's preposterous," Davey said in response to allegations the email violates conflict-of-interest laws. "Our team has been asked by various groups what the repeal of the gas-tax indexing really means and, unfortunately, those interested in seeing it repealed have not been honest about what it means. I don't see this as political activity. I see this as our duty, which is to inform the public what a ballot initiative would mean."

Davey said he would "absolutely" turn over any email as required under public-records law, and was not worried about a possible Ethics Commission investigation.

"I have complete confidence that today's charges will be seen as more political than anything else," Davey said.

The secretary has made no secret of his opposition to the ballot question. Davey argues it takes needed financial resources away from his department after the Patrick administration fought much of last year to increase revenue to make investments in public transit, roads and bridges.

State Reps. Marc Lombardo, Leah Cole and Ryan Fattman and Republican state committeeman Steve Alyward also attended the press conference outside the Statehouse.

"It's really a sad day when the corruption found in D.C., as exemplified by the IRS's use of taxpayer funds to target political campaigns, has now made its way to Beacon Hill," Diehl said.

While the conflict-of-interest law and public campaign-finance law both prohibit the use of public resources -- including email -- for the purpose of political campaigning, appointed public officials in policy-making roles within government are given some latitude to present information to inform public debate and speak publicly about ballot questions that fall into their policy areas.

Jason Tait, a spokesman for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, said the ban on using public resources for political campaigning does extend to ballot campaigns where the majority of "issues" with the law arise.

Gov. Deval Patrick said he knew nothing about the call for an Ethics Commission investigation, but said: "I would be more than surprised if something untoward was done."

Gonzalez's email to senior MassDOT officials and communications aides appears to expresses an opinion on the ballot question and provide background information on the impact of repealing the gas-tax-indexing law.

"If we are serious about investing in transportation, then we must vote no on the repeal. Otherwise, we will no doubt find ourselves in the very place we started -- crumbling roads and bridges, public transit in peril, and a maintenance backlog we can't afford to address," stated one of the talking points disseminated by Gonzalez.

The other 16 talking points suggest that opponents of the ballot question should discuss how the indexing law ensures "that the purchasing power of the gas tax keeps up with the price per gallon," how the Legislature and Gov. Patrick made "tough decisions" about revenue even though "no one likes to pay more," and how for the average driver the indexing measure means "roughly $5 per year -- or the price of two cups of coffee."

When asked if he was bothered by the claim that someone on his staff leaked the Gonzalez email, Davey said: "I don't think that's true at all."

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